acelift ≠ better quality
After weeks of planning, learning, choosing, measuring, building, painting, and planning, the kids and I finally did it. We gave our house a facelift.
New house numbers, freshly painted shutters, and adorable window flower boxes. It had just the effect we were looking for.
There was only one problem….
This new curb appeal didn’t solve any of the actual problems of the house.
Words first…then design
Ya know that feeling you have when you get a new car? Or shoot, even just a new outfit. For the first few times in it, you are definitely unstoppable. You’re certainly going to turn heads, make new friends, change the world.
But eventually it sinks in. That new car, that new outfit…it didn’t really change anything. Sure, for a bit it gave you a little more confidence. And that definitely matters. But you as a person? Still you.
That’s because you’re made up of more than your outward appearance.
And so is your website.
You see, you can’t really dress up your website the way it needs until you’ve established what it’s all about.
And for that very important reason, you need to focus on the words of your brand, your business, your website before you worry too much about your design.
How to write for your website
Step away from the website platform. Close it out.
You will get nowhere fast – or at best, you’ll get somewhere, but in the wrong direction – if you try writing your website words on your host site right away.
Instead, write for your website the same way you’d write a paper for school…on a completely blank, white document. Google Docs. Microsoft Word. Pages. It doesn’t matter. Just don’t, for the love of your brain and sanity, try writing and designing at the same time.
The design answers to the words
Once your words are established (and remember, this means hours of keyword research, brainstorming, outline drafting, research, and countless rounds of revisions) then and only then can you open up your website host site.
You’ll find as you get ready to marry your website words with some design that the structure and organization of your written thoughts lend themselves naturally to a certain design.
And that’s the big secret of content and copywriting.
Words have to be established first because design completely depends on them.
Templates aaaaaaaannd action!
In the coming weeks and months, we’re going to take a words-first approach to copywriting for your website.
With templates and tips, you’ll be on your way to establishing the words on the heavy-hitting pages of your internet space.
In the meantime, make sure you’ve done your homework.
Having this information in the front of your brain will help you get off to a good start when getting to the actual writing part of your website.
